Woman killed in traffic accident

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

May 25, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

A woman was killed, and her infant was seriously injured, Monday in a two-vehicle crash near Bemidji's Northern inn on U.S. Highway 2 West, according to a Minnesota State Patrol spokeswoman in Thief River Falls.

Another man, driving the second vehicle, was not injured.

The State Patrol would not release the names of the individuals involved in the collision pending notification of the victim's family.

According to the State Patrol, the woman, driving a maroon four-door station wagon eastbound on Highway 2, turned northward onto Moberg Drive Northwest, the entrance road to Bemidji/Beltrami Airport. As she crossed Highway 2 West, her vehicle was struck by a westbound tan pickup, which was pulling a trailer loaded with a speed boat, at about 11:15 a.m.

The pickup hit the passenger's side of the car, sending both vehicles sliding toward the road's northern ditch.

The 29-year-old woman and 3-month-ol infant were taken to North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji, where the mother died about 5 p.m., according to the State Patrol spokeswoman. The infant was in "very serious to critical" condition as of Monday evening.